Memory is the ability to encode, store, and retrieve information and experiences. It involves three main types: sensory memory (less than 1 second), short-term memory (less than 1 minute), and long-term memory (lifetime). Long-term memory includes implicit memory (procedural skills) and explicit memory (facts and autobiographical events), which has episodic memory for personal experiences and semantic memory for general knowledge. Multiple areas of the brain work together to form and retrieve memories. Factors like age, intelligence, interest, sleep, and meaningfulness of information impact memory strength and retention.

1. THE HUMAN
MEMORY
KATE NDERU
SHIKO MWAURA
IRVINE JULIA
BERNARD NYACHIEO
WILLIAM KANGU
ANN MATILDA

2. MEMORY INTRODUCTION
 Memory is the ability to encode, store and
remember information and past experiences in
the brain.
 Encoding: a process of making mental
representation of information. It can also mean
transferring from short term to long term.
 Storing: Process of placing encoded
information into relatively permanent storage
for later recall.
 Remembering: the process of retrieving what
has been stored in short term or long term
memory.

3. Intro cont...
 In general terms one can define memory as
the use of past experience to influence or
affect human behaviour.
WHERE MEMORY COMES FROM
 Memory is not located on one particular
part of the brain but instead there is a brain
wide process in which different parts of the
brain work in conjunction with one
another(distributing process).

4. Intro cont...
 For example: when riding a bicycle,
the whole process is reconstructed by
the brain in different areas.
 The memory of how to operate the
bike comes from one area, the
memory of the street paths comes
from another area, the memory of bike
safety rules in another and the
nervous feeling when almost falling or
being hit comes from another part of
the brain.

5. DISTRIBUTIVE PROCESS
DIAGRAM

6. TYPES OF MEMORY
There are three main types of memory.
1) Sensory memory
2) Long term memory
3) Short term memory
 Unlike the other two types, long type
memory is extensive as it lasts a
lifetime and thus has further sub
divisions as can be seen in the
diagram below:

7. Types of memory diagram

8. a) SENSORY MEMORY
(<1sec)
 Sensory memories the Shortest term
element of memory. In order for anything
to enter our memory, it must be picked
up by our senses( taste, touch, sight,
hearing and smell).
 Sensory memory makes use of the five
senses in order to be developed.
 For example, the ability to look at
something and remember what it looked
like with just a second of observation is
an example of sensory memory.

9. b) SHORT TERM MEMORY
(<1min)
 Also called working memory. It is
everything you are thinking of at the
current moment. Takes less than one
minute to process.
 It is the information we hang on to while
doing another process and it tends to
disappear really fast unless we make an
effort to remember it.
 For example, when reading a sentence,
you place the beginning of the sentence
in mind so as to understand the rest of
the sentence.

10. c) LONG TERM MEMORY
(life- time)
 This is a process of storing unlimited
amounts of information over long
period of time.
 Although there is the element of
forgetting, long term memory decays
very little and we are thus able to
recall most of it.

11. Long term memory cont...
 Short term memories can become
long term memories through the
process of consolidation which
involves rehearsal and meaningful
association.
 Unlike short-term memory (which
relies mostly on an acoustic, and to a
lesser extent a visual, code for storing
information), long-term memory
encodes information for
storage semantically (i.e. based on
meaning and association).

12. Long term memory location

13. Characteristics of long term
memory
 It has an unlimited capacity and it is
relatively permanent.
 Chances of retrieval are dependent on
encoding process.
 Its accuracy may be distorted over
time

14. TYPES OF LONG TERM
MEMORY

15. a) IMPLICIT
MEMORY(procedural)
 Implicit memory is memory that can be
unconsciously recalled. This is also known as
procedural memory. It is a memory of skills and
how to do things, particularly movement of body
parts and use of objects or machines.
 This is memory acquired through repetition and
practise and is composed of automatic
sensorimeter behaviours that are so deeply
embedded that we are no longer aware of them.
An example is when you teach a child to write
over and over again, eventually it becomes
embedded in him until he is able to do it simply
without thinking so much about it. Other
examples include riding a bike, tying a shoe-lace,
playing the guitar etc.

16. cont....
 This type of long-term memory allows people
to carry out ordinary motor actions more or
less automatically. This is aided by previous
performances of the task without explicit or
conscious awareness of the previous
experiences, like you do not remember how
you learnt how to hold a spoon or how to tie
your shoe lace, yet now you can do it more
unconsciously.
 Implicit memory is stored and encoded by the
cerebellum, putamen, caudate nucleus
and the motor cortex- all of which are
involved in motor control.

17. Factors Affecting Implicit Memory
 Stroke
 Depression and stress
 Drug abuse
 Lack of sleep
 Nutritional deficiency
 Head injury
 Medications

18. b) EXPLICIT(declarative)
 Declarative memory is a type of long
term memory and it is also known as
explicit memory.
 It is in this memory where we store
memories of fact.
 Your ability to recall addresses,
locations of parking garages,
intersection names, phone numbers,
and an experience that you had at a
restaurant are all a part of declarative
memory.

19. Explicit cont...
 For example: let's say that you know
that your favourite restaurant is only
open until 6 PM on Sundays. The time
that the restaurant closes is stored as
a declarative memory. We can
consciously recall declarative
memory.

20. Factors Affecting Declarative
Memory.
STRESS
 Through experimentation method,
scholars have been able to detect that
those who are undergoing stress tend
to affect their declarative memory
more than those who are not
undergoing stress.

21. i. EPISODIC MEMORY
 Episodic memory represents our
memory of experiences and
specific events in time, from which we
can reconstruct the actual events that
took place at any given point in our
lives
 Episodic memory is what enables one
to give an account of an event which
happened and will tend to be different
from someone else's.

22. EXAMPLES OF EPISODIC
MEMORY
 First day at a new job.
 First movie you watched with your
wife.
 The first time you travelled by plane.
 Your wedding day.
 Your first kiss.

23. ii. SEMANTIC MEMORY
 Semantic memory includes things that
are common knowledge, such as the
names of colors, the sounds of letters,
the capitals of countries and basic
facts acquired over a life time.
 Semantic memory is the recollection
of facts gathered from the time we are
young

24. Examples of semantic
memory.
 Knowing that grass is green.
 Knowing how to use scissors.
 Understanding how to put words
together to form a sentence.
 Knowing how to use a phone.
 Recognizing the names of colours.

25. GENERAL FACTORS
AFFECTING MEMORY.
a. Ability to retain:
 This depends upon good memory traces left
in the brain by past experiences.
b. Good health:
 A person with good health can retain the
learnt material better than a person with poor
health.
c. Age of the learner:
 Youngsters can remember better than the
aged.
d. Maturity:
 Very young children cannot retain and
remember complex material.

26. Factors cont...
e. Will to remember:
 Willingness to remember helps for better
retention.
f. Intelligence:
 More intelligent person will have better memory
than a dull person,
g. Interest:
 If a person has more interest, he will learn and
retain better.
h. Over learning:
 Experiments have proved that over learning will
lead to better memory.
i. Speed of learning:
 Quicker learning leads to better retention,

27. Factors cont...
j. Meaningfulness of the material:
 Meaningful materials remain in our
memory for longer period than for
nonsense material,
k. Sleep or rest:
 Sleep or rest immediately after
learning strengthens connections in
the brain and helps for clear memory.

28. THE END